22 Whom hast thou reproached and reviled? And against whom lifted up a voice? Yea, thou dost lift up on high thine eyes -- Against the Holy One of Israel!
Turn aside from the way, decline from the path, Cause to cease from before us the Holy One of Israel.' Therefore, thus said the Holy One of Israel, Because of your kicking against this word, And ye trust in oppression, And perverseness, and rely on it,
And thou saidst in thy heart: the heavens I go up, Above stars of God I raise my throne, And I sit in the mount of meeting in the sides of the north. I go up above the heights of a thick cloud, I am like to the Most High.
and when his heart was high, and his spirit was strong to act proudly, he hath been caused to come down from the throne of his kingdom, and his glory they have caused to pass away from him, and from the sons of men he is driven, and his heart with the beasts hath been like, and with the wild asses `is' his dwelling; the herb like oxen they cause him to eat, and by the dew of the heavens is his body wet, till that he hath known that God Most High is ruler in the kingdom of men, and whom He willeth He raiseth up over it. `And thou, his son, Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though all this thou hast known; and against the Lord of the heavens thou hast lifted up thyself; and the vessels of His house they have brought in before thee, and thou, and thy great men, thy wives, and thy concubines, are drinking wine with them, and gods of silver, and of gold, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone, that are not seeing, nor hearing, nor knowing, thou hast praised: and the God in whose hand `is' thy breath, and all thy ways, Him thou hast not honoured.
`Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart hath been high, And thou dost say: A god I `am', The habitation of God I have inhabited, In the heart of the seas, And thou `art' man, and not God, And thou givest out thy heart as the heart of God, Lo, thou `art' wiser than Daniel, No hidden thing have they concealed from thee. By thy wisdom and by thine understanding Thou hast made for thee wealth, And makest gold and silver in thy treasuries. By the abundance of thy wisdom, Through thy merchandise, Thou hast multiplied thy wealth, And high is thy heart through thy wealth. Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy giving out thy heart as the heart of God, Therefore, lo, I am bringing in against thee strangers, The terrible of the nations, And they have drawn out their swords Against the beauty of thy wisdom, And they have pierced thy brightness. To destruction they bring thee down, Thou diest by the deaths of the wounded, in the heart of the seas. Dost thou really say, `I `am' God,' Before him who is slaying thee? And thou `art' man, and not God, In the hand of him who is piercing thee.
Arise, O God, plead Thy plea, Remember Thy reproach from a fool all the day. Forget not the voice of Thine adversaries, The noise of Thy withstanders is going up continually!
And the chief of the butlers standeth and calleth with a great voice `in' Jewish, and speaketh and saith, `Hear ye a word of the great king, the king of Asshur: thus said the king, Let not Hezekiah lift you up, for he is not able to deliver you out of his hand; and let not Hezekiah make you trust unto Jehovah, saying, Jehovah doth certainly deliver us, and this city is not given into the hand of the king of Asshur. `Do not hearken unto Hezekiah, for thus said the king of Asshur, Make with me a blessing, and come out unto me, and eat ye each of his vine, and each of his fig-tree, and drink ye each the waters of his own well, till my coming in, and I have taken you unto a land like your own land, a land of corn and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive, and honey, and live, and die not; and do not hearken unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, Jehovah doth deliver us. `Have the gods of the nations delivered at all each his land out of the hand of the king of Asshur? Where `are' the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah, that they have delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who `are they' among all the gods of the lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah doth deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on 2 Kings 19
Commentary on 2 Kings 19 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 19
This chapter relates that King Hezekiah, on a report made to him of Rabshakeh's speech, sent a message to the prophet Isaiah to pray for him, who returned him a comfortable and encouraging answer, 2 Kings 19:1 and that upon Rabshakeh's return to the king of Assyria, he sent to Hezekiah a terrifying letter, 2 Kings 19:8, which Hezekiah spread before the Lord, and prayed unto him to save him and his people out of the hands of the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 19:14, to which he had a gracious answer sent him by the prophet Isaiah, promising him deliverance from the Assyrian army, 2 Kings 19:20, which accordingly was destroyed by an angel in one night, and Sennacherib fleeing to Nineveh, was slain by his two sons, 2 Kings 19:35.
And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it,.... The report of Rabshakeh's speech, recorded in the preceding chapter:
that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth; rent his clothes because of the blasphemy in the speech; and he put on sackcloth, in token of mourning, for the calamities he feared were coming on him and his people: and he went into the house of the Lord; the temple, to pray unto him. The message he sent to Isaiah, with his answer, and the threatening letter of the king of Assyria, Hezekiah's prayer upon it, and the encouraging answer he had from the Lord, with the account of the destruction of the Assyrian army, and the death of Sennacherib, are the same "verbatim" as in Isaiah 37:1 throughout; and therefore the reader is referred thither for the exposition of them; only would add what RauwolffF20Travels, par. 3. ch. 22. p. 317. observes, that still to this day (1575) there are two great holes to be seen, wherein they flung the dead bodies (of the Assyrian army), one whereof is close by the road towards Bethlehem, the other towards the right hand against old Bethel.